When to Send a Thank You Card after a Wedding

Writing out Thank You cards after a wedding is a thankless task! When you want to relax after your wedding, you’ve got more organising to do. So, when should you get this final task finished?
Etiquette says you should send a thank you card three weeks after the thing you’re thanking the person for has happened. If you get a gift before the wedding, you should thank the person within three weeks of getting the gift. If you’re thanking somebody for attending the wedding, send a thank you card within three weeks of your wedding date.
However, you may benefit from taking a different approach. Rather than sending them one by one, send them all at once in the days immediately after the wedding.

When to Send a Thank You Card after a Wedding

Sending wedding thank you cards can be a chore. If you received some gifts early, you may have to send Thank Yous before your wedding day has even begun. And then, once your wedding day is over, all you want to do is relax and forget about ‘organising’ anything ever again… So, how is it fair that you have to send dozens of Thank You cards?!
Unfortunately, even though it’s annoying, there are good reasons to send them. A person may have taken time off work, travelled across the country to see your ceremony, or made a special effort as a bridesmaid or usher. If that’s the case, they deserve to be thanked.
And like all Thank Yous, they should be prompt. So, you shouldn’t leave it six months before thanking somebody for a wedding gift. But at the same time, there’s the honeymoon to think of, and perhaps even moving in together and buying a house. So, when should you thank someone?

When Does Etiquette Say You Should Send a Thank You Card?

As a rule of thumb, you should send out a wedding thank you card within three weeks. But when precisely those three weeks start and end depends on what you’re thanking the person for. If they sent you a gift before the wedding day, for example, you should thank them sooner.
You may also want to consider taking a different amount of time if you’re thanking the person in a different way. Some ways of thanking people (e.g. over the phone) weren’t invented when wedding etiquette was first being thought of, so there aren’t always clear rules.

What Are You Thanking Them For?

So, the first thing to consider is what you’re thanking the person for. There are three reasons: either thanking them for attending, thanking them for their gift, or thanking them because they did something to help on your big day (e.g. as a bridesmaid).
This throws a tiny spanner in the works. Lots of people send their gifts before the wedding, rather than on the day. So, officially, you should be thanking them within three weeks after you received the gift. But if you’re thanking the person for being at the wedding, or helping in the ceremony or reception, then three weeks from then is fine.
This can make sending thank you cards more difficult. You have to track who you’ve thanked, and when. So, you might want to consider sending ‘Thank Yous’ in bulk. This will help you keep track, but also save time, because you can do everything at once.

How Are You Thanking Them?

Another thing to consider is how you’re thanking the person. Most people use custom printed Thank You cards which they buy from a wedding stationery printer (like Bride & Groom Direct). If you’re using these, you have to allow time for printing them, writing any messages you’d like to include, posting them, and so on.
But that’s not the only way you can thank somebody after a wedding (even if it is the most formal). You can thank somebody in person, which is the more personal approach. You can’t do this for everyone if you have a big wedding, but perhaps the most important people. Again, the time limit would be three weeks here, because meeting up has to be arranged when you’re both free; it’s only natural to allot a decent amount of time to do that in.

Guide to Sending Thank You Cards after a Wedding

So, while the rule itself is simple, the way things work in practise isn’t. As such, you would benefit from planning everything out long before you need to send the first card. Then, you can send all of the cards at once in the days immediately after the wedding.
It all starts with ordering your personalised Thank You cards from a wedding stationery store like ours. You pick out the design you like from the dozens available, and pick the colour you’d like the design to be printed in.
There are also personalisable elements, as there are with most kinds of wedding stationery. So, you might want to put your names on there, or the names of the person you’re thanking. You may also want to write out a little message which will be printed on each of the thank you cards, so that you don’t have to write it out again and again.
Crucially, you want to order these Thank You cards long before you need them: weeks in advance if possible! Then whenever you need to send them, they’re ready. If there’s something specific you need to thank a person for, you can include a handwritten message, either on or alongside the card.

Sending Your Thank You Cards

Once they arrive, you can get cracking on organising your Thank You cards. Each of the cards ordered from our online store comes with an envelope for you to send it in. You’ll also need stamps and the addresses of each of your guests, so have these ready.
Next up, simply write out the addresses on each of the envelopes and affix a stamp to each one. Then, pop a Thank You card in each one. Again, you want to do this long before you need to send them, so that they’re ready when you need them. Any time is fine.
Don’t seal the envelopes just yet. Keep them open so that you can put an additional handwritten note in there if you need to. Then, when it’s time to send them out, all you need to do is write those few notes, seal the envelopes, and send them. That shouldn’t take more than half an hour, unless you had a big wedding party.
And that’s all there is to it! This is a far better way of organising your Thank You cards than filling them out as soon as you get back from your ceremony or honeymoon. So, if you’d like to get everything sorted in good time, why not check out our online wedding stationery store today?
We have a hundred different designs for you to choose from, in any colour you might need to match your wedding day. Better yet, you can personalise your card with your own message and your own names for that professional touch. And from 50p per card (plus free envelopes), you won’t be out of pocket.
So, what are you waiting for? Head to our online wedding stationery store today!